Love that Kills
by x-menobsessed26
Summary: Falling in love with the forbidden never seems to work out right. Rated M for swearing, just in case. ON HIATUS!
1. Prologue

**Natasha POV**

I'm not sure when I began to realize I was falling in love.

I _do_ know it was around the time Loki decided to make hell for us. When I finally figured it out, it scared me to death.

I meant what I told that power hungry bastard when I interrogated him. Love _is_ for children and I definitely owed Clint a debt, but I have left debts much more substasial paid with minimal effort, or just haven't paid at all. Why did my debt to him matter so much?

After we defeated Loki, I began to realize just how brainwashed I had been. I'd always known it was bad, but when I can't even realize how many types of love there are...no. Love is for children, but it isn't just for children. I know this because I, a grown woman, am in love.

Deeply, irrevocably, and disappointingly in love.


	2. Chapter 1

**Natasha POV**

The sharp heels of my onyx boots clicked down the shining, clean hallways of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. It was a comforting sounds, almost liek the steady, repetative beat of a heart and it relaxed my body as I prepared to walk into my next briefing.

The doors opened to a computer lab much more advanced than the one that had been on the helicarrier, if that had even been possible. Standing in front of a large screen was Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Clint Barton, no surprise there. However it was a surprise, a pleasant one I would never admit to, to see Tony Stark's aristocratically arrogant face on the screen.

"Ah, the only spider I'm ever going to be happy to see!"

Okay, maybe not too pleasant.

I settled for just rolling my eyes as I walked down to join my favored co-workers. Maria shot me a sympathetic look and Clint chuckled.

"I didn't conference you to annoy my agents, Stark. I'll ask again. What have you planned?" Fury asked.

"As I've already explained to you, but I will review for the redheaded Russian (I growled), I'm working on blueprints for an idea sent to me from Dr. Banner. As you well know, there aren't very many ways to tell when our friends from other planets will show up again, or at all," Tony explained as the camera expanded its sights to show him lounging with a martini. Figures.

Fury sighed with exasperation, "Yes, we know. We discussed this with Thor a month ago. Did you make this call just to remind us?"

Tony pointed a finger at the camera, "Though that does sound like something I would do, no."

Maria rolled her hand impatiently, "Get on with it."

"You people really need to relax more. Listen. I have this fantastic house on a small island near Bora Bora I could lend-"

"Tony!" I shouted.

Now he rolled his eyes, "Fine. While working long distance with Dr. I-need-a-stressball0the-size-of-a-house we found out a way to build a rather unique lab."

Fury turned to look at one of the techies, "See if you can conference Dr. Banner in."

"Yes, Director."

Tony had enough sense to be quiet while Bruce was brought in. His tired face appeared shortly in the screen beside Tony, "Good morning, everyone."

"Good evening to you, Bruce," I replied, giving him a warm smile.

"Thank you, Natasha. I'm assuming this is about Mr. Stark's and my project?"

Fury stepped forward, "You would be right. I called you because I thought you could explain to us in simpilar form what Tony was going to try."

"Yes, I won't be as...flippant, but I can't guarentee it will stay simple. Anyway, what we had in mind was a special sort of astronomical laboratory. It would have the same fuction of a normal lab of a similar sort, at least, in the eyes of the employees," he explained. "The employers, yourselves, would know differently."

Clint narrowed his eyes at the relatively withdrawn man, "You want us to employ people who actually have no idea the true reason they're employed? How is this ethical?"

"Isn't that the way S.H.I.E.L.D. typically operates? Since when do you care about ethics? Any of you?" Tony piped up, while refilling his glass.

"I could ask you the same question, Stark." I practically snarled.

Fury put up a hand, snuffing out whatever else we were about to say like a candle flame, "Enough! Lying has its times and purposes. If this happens to involve it, I would damn well like to know what they would be doing that they can't know about."

"The Tesseract can't be the only power source out there that other...worlds would like to get their hands on, and we know from talking to Thor that some of those people have gamma radiation traces within their very beings. Obviously this isn't all, but this is a start. That's just one way we'll track them, but we need S.H.I.E.L.D. to run it. We thought you may be interested. We have several options that could be functional...soon," Bruce said, looking up from a clipboard.

"Define 'soon'," Fury demanded.

"If you give me the 'ok!', I could have systems online by tonight and you can begin your potential employee interviews no later than...right now," Tony replied lazily.

Maria looked like she was supressing a laugh when she replied, "You are one sneaky bastard, aren't you?"

He put a hand up to his chest in mock offense, "Me? Never!"

"Only 12% of the time," Pepper Pott's voice sounded from somewhere else in the room.

Tony winced, "Still paying for that, huh?"

She only laughed in response. Fury shook his head, "Just put it online and I'll call if we need you."

He gave a lazy salute and signed off just before Bruce did. Fury turned to the three of us, "Maria, I want you to look into our files and find anyone that fits the criteria we're looking for. Make sure they can all do their jobs effieciently. If even the night janitor messes up, this could all go to hell. You should know this by now. Understood?"

She nodded, "Yes, sir!"

He turned his attention on Clint and me in silent dismissal of Maria, "You two will help finish your current assignments. When those are up in a week, we will send S.H.I.E.L.D. to pick you up and bring you to the new laboratory where I will be looking into the system. There I will give you your new assignments. Questions?"

"No, sir!" we said together.

He nodded his approval. As we walked out, I glanced over at Clint, who seemed to be in a much worse mood than he had been earlier, "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he snapped.

Ignoring the anger and pain that shot through me with his snappish attitude, I tried to remind myself that the's the best partner I had ever had the pleasure of working with and killing him probably wouldn't do my career a whole lot of good, "Nothing? If it was nothing, you wouldn't react. That's one piece of training we've both had."

"I apologize, Agent Romanoff, let me rephrase it. It is nothing you could possibly understand with your brainwashed history. Better?"

He didn't give me a chance to respond as he slammed the door to his quarters in my face. It felt as if I had just been slapped.

Swallowing down all of the emotions building in me fromt it, just like I had been taught, I shut myself off from everything remotely personal and proceeded down to my own quarters, to prepare for the next phase of my mission.


	3. Chapter 2

**Clint POV**

I fucked up.

No other words would fit. I truly fucked up. No, scratch that. I fucked up too many times to count, so it has just made one big blob of it.

The first time was when I put my job and life on the line to save a woman I saw something in that not even she could see. The second was when I fell in love with said woman. Third happened to be when I slammed my bedroom door in the same woman's face after bringing up a time in her past only I know completely about, even after Loki so arrogantly said that I had told him everything.

I hadn't.

To say I didn't know why I was angry would be a lie. I know Natasha and Bruce are close friends and nothing more, but I don't like the way she's so warm to him. At least when Tony is considered I know that no romantic interest exists. Bruce has the potential and all it needs is a small spark. Her warm hello hit a nerve.

I slammed my fist into the wall, angry with myself more than anyone. I know if she found out, she'd probably kill me, but I have to leave a room she walks into half of the time so I won't slam her beautiful body into the wall and kiss her until the end of forever.

I've asked myself mroe times than I care to remember 'Why Natasha?'. The answer is the same as the subject of the question. She is just...her.

I snatched my bow and quiver off of my bedside table and headed down to the shooting range. I don't truly need the practice, as I've already trained myself to a peak, but it feels good to shoot. When I open the door, the gunshots I heard don't register until I've already closed and locked the door.

Natasha is making sure a new set of pistol's S.H.I.E.L.D. made to help her on her latest mission are up to her personal standard. Damn!

I try to look nonchalant as I walk past her, but I'm pretty sure I just look pissed off. With the glare she shoots me in return, I'm also pretty sure she thinks it's directed at her. Double damn!

I'm not sure how long I spent shoot arrows into bullseyes, but eventually the gunshots stop and I heard her boots click toward the door, open it, and leave.

The minute she's gone I sighed in relief as my muscles relaxed with a tension I hadn't known they were keeping. This woman would be the death of me. As overused as that phrase is, it's quite safe to say that it's probably true.

I've fallen in love with an assassin.

**Okay, so that's the first three chapters of a story I wrote after watching the movie for a second time. Please drop me a review and let me know whether it will be worth continuing!**

**I promise that I haven't abandoned my other stories, but my inspiration level is...extinct at the moment, and this was a step back into my normal direction. I hope my fellow writers out there will understand. Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 3

Natasha POV

After I left on the next phase of my mission, I noticed how much I didn't want to leave. As angry with him as I am at the moment, I still didn't want to leave Clint's presence. It was comforting as much as it was infuritating. Then I remembered that he was going to be leaving soon himself, so me leaving first really didn't make that much of a difference.

I soon landed, literally landed since I had just dropped out of a plane, onto the roof of the hotel I would be doing my...business in. I climbed down to the balcony connected to the room I had been assigned and routinely sweeped it for bugs. There were none this time.

I changed into a skimpy red and black dress, put on a wig of long, curly, black hair done up and did my make-up in a cheaply sophisticated way. I'm not allowed to say where it is this business is getting done, but their whores aren't the cheap ones you would find waiting on the corners of semi-busy city streets back in the States. When I looked into the full-length mirror just before heading downstairs, I couldn't even recognize myself, which made me both proud and a tad sad. This is what my life had become.

Most little girls want to be princesses, teachers, veterinarians, or doctors, but I, in my brainwashed state, wanted to be the world's best assassinating spy. I would say I regret it, but it's only what I used it for before S.H.I.E.L.D. and the way I was trained that I regret. Everything else...it's part of who I am. Clint and Fury seem to be the only people who truly understand that.

I walked down the stairs as fast as I could while still trying to be sultry in four-inch, strappy high heels, also in red. The sooner I got this done, the sooner I could get my next assignment and be out of here. There were quite a few targets on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most wanted list that happened to frequent this "hotel". Little did anyone except for insiders know that this hotel was run by S.H.I.E.L.D.

I walked over to the bar and ordered a vodka tonic. As I waited, I sat on a barstool, crossing my legs and allowing my dress to slide up further. Almost immediately, one of the targets strolled up to the bar and began talking with me.

I supressed the urge to roll my eyes. This was all too easy.

**I apologize for the fact that these chapters are generally very short, but I do them during spare moments throughout the day. The next installment should be up either later tonight or tomorrow. It will be short once again, but will probably be from Clint's POV.**

**Thank you to all of the people who follow this story now. You have no idea how happy it made me to wake up this morning and see all of those alerts! =D**


	5. Chapter 4

**Clint POV**

When I found out she had left, I was a little peeved. A little habit we had formed over the years we had worked together was a mushy little goodbye routine, just in case one of us died but neither of us was man (or woman) enough to admit it. I would admit it to myself though. I was extremely uneasy with the thought of her leaving without saying anything.

I had nothing and nobody to say goodbye to, so I just climbed into a jet waiting to take me back to my base. I had been given a list a few weeks ago of names. Nothing about my mission this time was unusual from my normal missions. They were people that had been approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. and told to work for us or die. Naturally, these people generally choose the 'or die' option because they either think they can get away or they can fight. Neither works.

So when they turn down the offer, I am then given their name and information on them in order to hunt them down. I tended to do it alphabetically, since it was the order I was handed them in. Like checking off a shopping list.

I opened my S.H.I.E.L.D. issued (and modified) PDA and looked at my next target. Her name was Annalee Dauw. A jolt went through me at how closely she resembled Natasha. Then I began to focus on the small differences : Annalee's eyes are closer together and nose a bit bigger, and Tasha's eyes are more green than blue and hair was naturally red.

"Sir, it's time for you to jump," one of the pilot's told me.

I nodded and strapped into my parachute, clutching my bow like a lifeline, which I was. Many wonder why I chose a bow and arrow, but that damned 'old fashioned' weapon has saved my life more times than a gun could possibly hope to. Sure, I know how to shoot pretty much anything, but I prefer my bow anyday.

I jumped freefell for as long as I could before pulling the strap. It opened without a hitch and I landed on the roof of my designated drop zone. I knew my target was staying up the street. She was a computer nerd who had gotten herself into a bad place with too many clicks of the mouse. She had no way to protect herself. Stupid girl should have said yes to us.

I jogged my way down the damp street, noting the level of moisture in the air indicated a break in what would evidently be a night full of rain. Good. Nothing like good old Mother Nature covering your tracks for you.

As I climbed my way up the fire escape of where her apartment lay, I wondered why this girl was stupid enough to not only stay where she lived when she was told she was going to die, but had lived by a fire escape (easy access for me) and left her damned window open. It was as easy as pulling and shooting.

That is exactly what I did.

**Thank you to the couple more of you who put this in watch and / or favorited. I didn't expect anything with this story, and I am more than pleased with the amount of silent support. Speaking of silent support, if we could actually get some noise going in the review area, that would be wonderful. Thank you for reading. =D**


	6. Chapter 5

**Natasha POV**

I slashed the knife across the man's back once more. Even though he probably thought he was about to die, I had known better. The wounds I had given him felt much more severe than they actually were.

"You know I won't let you die yet," I said in my dangerous voice, like a cat taunting a mouse before it goes in for the kill. I even stalked slowly around where he was bound in the chair, tossing and turning the knife around in my hands. "You hold too valuable of information. This can all end as soon as you tell me where it is."

He shot me a burning glare and spat, "I know nothing."

I was growing tired very fast and my annoyance grew at an exponential rate every time the scumbag opened his dirty mouth. I threw my knife into his kneecap while he screamed loud.

I wasn't afraid of anyone hearing as S.H.I.E.L.D. had soundproofed the room, but I still listened intently for running footsteps and the jiggling of the doorknob. Nothing happened.

Old habits die hard.

I picked up a small flask that could have passed as holding whiskey if I didn't know better. I uncapped it and out with it came a stopper. My superiors like to make sure that I have everything with me at all times that I may need in order to interrogate. Weapons can get a little old and they hold much more risk.

I squeezed two drops onto his left shoulder where it instantly began to smoke and melt his clothing... and then his skin. He screamed and screamed. I dropped a couple more on his right thigh. He screamed some more.

Then I took a bottle of water and washed it over the areas. It wouldn't completely cleanse it, but it would stop the pain for what I needed.

"Tell me or we can keep this up all night," I held up the flask. "Acid. I'm not exactly sure what kind, and to tell you the truth, I don't give a damn. I can pour it on you until you beg me to kill you. I've already told you I won't give you that luxury."

"What do you want from me?" he groaned.

I fisted his hair and yanked his head back so he was looking up at me, "Where. Are. The. Missile. Shipments?"

I could see a million lies formulating in his mind, so I made to uncap it again.

"Wait! Wait! They're in Miory!"

"Where's Miory?"

He began to cry, not unusual but very disappointing nonetheless, "In Belarus."

I walked behind him and messed around on the table for a bit, packing up my personal tools. Then I grabbed my cell phone and dialed Fury, "Fury. The last of the shipments is in Miory, Belarus."

"Good. You know what to do. They should be arriving in a half hour."

I hung up and walked toward the door. The man, Harold Ernest, gazed up at me with his blue eyes, faded with age and years of staring at meaningless paperwork, "What happens now?"

As an answer, I pulled out my gun and sent a bullet through his left eye socket. Then I put my heels back on and walked out.

As he had told me, they arrived a half hour later on the dot. A team departed, presumably to clean up my mess, and I boarded for…wherever the lab was.

Alaska, as it turns out. A very remote, well guarded part of Alaska.

I got off the plane, eager to stretch my cramped muscles and change into something a little more me. Only part of that wish was met,  
however, as I was immediately walked to a part of the lab where there were no other people to be seen. There were plenty of blinking lights and graphics on screens I had no hope of understanding.

Agent Hill walked in and dismissed my transport team, "Hello, Agent Romanoff. Congratulations on another successful mission."

I nodded, "Thank you. Speaking of successful missions, can I have my next one so I can leave?"

"I'm afraid I can't give it to you, as your partner isn't here yet."

"Partner?"

She shot me a look, "You've been partners with Agent Barton in the past. I would have thought you would have been happy with working with someone as compatible with you as him."

I sat down in a chair near me, "How long is this mission supposed to last?"

"At least a few months. Probably more."

Well damn.

**Thank you so very much for the two encouraging reviews! They made my day more than you can imagine!**

**I know this chapter probably isn't as good as you were expecting, but that's going to be like that the entire story. I'm not very good with action scenes, I don't have a lot of practice with them, but I will do my best for the next chapter, which will be from Clint's POV. That will either be posted later tonight or tomorrow, depending on how much free time I have between now and then. Until next time, happy writing!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Clint POV**

I was escorted into the room when I heard Agent Hill telling Natasha that we would be working together...for a few months, "You can't be serious!"

Agent Hill turned to look at me with her eyebrows raised, "Is there a problem between the two of you?"

I gritted my teeth, every atom in my body telling me not to look at the beautiful redhead, "Not particularly."

"Good, because even if there was, you would have to deal with it. You're professionals and two of the best agents we've ever had."

I nodded and sat in a chair as far away from Tasha as possible, "So what is this mission concerning?"

Her eyes narrowed at something far away, "We've already received intelligence that there are quite a few alien races out there that would love to see us all wiped out, and have the Avengers on their most wanted lists."

"And what do you want us to do about it? We're not exactly space prone," I asked.

"I think I can answer that best," a new voice from across the room sounded. A chair turned around to reveal a rather gorgeous woman with blonde hair that was pulled up into a painful looking bun that was braided so all hairs were guarenteed to be out of annoyance range. Her blue eyes quickly calculated Tasha and me and then said, "I am Major Carol Danvers. I have been working closely with Dr. Martin Velko and a few others who are not currently present in the hopes of figuring out the primary targets when they decide to hit. We have come up with several options, but ironically, this facility seems to be the most likely of all."

Natasha glared at the other woman for no apparent reason, "Who is Dr. Martin Velko?"

"I am," announced a very well built man in a black suit (doctors don't wear while lab coats anymore?) with black hair and green eyes.

I glanced back at Natasha and was hit with a pang of jealous so hard that it nearly made me see stars. She was nearly drooling over the man. It was then that I realized these people were going to be here the whole time as well.

This was going to be a really long few months.

**I know, short. It was originally supposed to be longer, but that didn't happen, almost like updating on time didn't happen. I make no promises as to when the next update will happen.**

**You can find a page dedicated to my fanfictions and stay up to date with their happenings and such by searching 'X-menobessed26'.**


End file.
